New human rights project

1 October 2015

The launch of a new project on criminal justice and fighting ill-treatment and impunity in Armenia took place on 30 September 2015. The new project raises core issues, such as the challenges faced by the Armenian criminal justice system and how the application of European human rights standards can be improved at the national level.
The main objective of the project is to strengthen the implementation of European human rights standards in Armenia. The specific objectives are to support the alignment of human rights policies and practice by ensuring the compliance of legislative and regulatory frameworks with European standards, and to build the capacities of investigators and prosecutors.Piotr Switalski, the Head of the EU Delegation to Armenia, attended the event and stressed the importance of justice reform: ‘It is a real great pleasure for me to be here at this event, where we are launching a very important project financed by the European Union. Supporting justice in Armenia is one of the priorities for the EU. We have sponsored and implemented a number of projects in Armenia and we are determined to continue our support. Two days ago, when I had a meeting with the Armenian Minister of Justice, I heard a very storng commitment from her to continue the cooperation between the Armenian government and the EU. Indeed, the EU is commited to assisting Armenia in further justice reforms’.
Gevorg Kostanyan, the Armenian Prosecutor General, echoed this sentiment: ‘The implementation of this project is very important for Armenia, because it is aimed at strengthening human rights protection and preventing any kind of physical and psychological torture. The Armenian constitution bans all kinds of torture in our country. The best way to fight against torture is public awareness. There are many issues that can be solved with the support of this project’.
The main target groups of the project are staff from the Armenian Ministry of Justice, criminal justice reform stakeholders, trainers from the Justice Academy, prosecutors, and investigators.Arpine Hovhannisyan, the Armenian Minister of Justice, spoke out against torture: ‘Human rights abuses or torture of a person acquire special meaning when they are displayed by an official in a criminal investigation. We need to solve this issue through the joint efforts of all stakeholders. This solution to the problem can be successful only in cases where the fight is effective on both the practical and legislative level’.
The project is financed by the EU and the CoE, and the overall budget is ‎€500,000. The duration of the project is 24 months.

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